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'Our rishis, our mystics, have worked on the development of the emotional dimension in humans. That is why every village in India has a big temple that is bigger than even the school or any other facility of the village. The temple is the primary thing for any village settlement to be created. All other things are secondary. This is because our masters worked continuously to develop the emotional dimension of a human being. They knew that the development of emotions is the basic necessity for holistic growth and development. Once a man has developed in the emotional level, he will have everything, his life will be just heaven.'

You may be worried about the wrong you have committed, but God is not. What is past is past. You are His child, and whatever wrong you have done came about because you didn't know Him. He doesn't hold against evil done under the influence of ignorance. All He asks is that you not repeat your wrong actions. He wants only to find out whether or not you are sincere in your intention to be good.

'When you surrender the ‘I’, there is utter bliss. When you surrender the ‘mine’, there is utter relaxation. When you surrender the ‘I’, and ‘mine’, there is beautiful ‘IS ness’ in your life. This is the scale to measure whether your surrender is merely lip service or it is real. With this scale you can measure whether you have surrendered or not. Surrender is nothing but a clear, conscious decision. Nothing else'.

In the eternal space, there are no segments of any kind, but in your mind there are. You are still not working with eternity; you are working with your body and mind. And for both of them, you have to put some lines to understand where you are going, otherwise you do not know whether you are going forward or backward. This does not mean preserving yourself. You cannot preserve yourself. The dead can be preserved, life cannot be preserved, it has to be expended as intensely as possible. If you try to save life, you will save yourself from life. The only way is to expand it as intensely as possible, so that it flares in an exuberant way. Preservation is for the dead.

At a certain phase of his life, Shankaran Pillai was a chronic drunk. But being a generous man, he contributed all of his organs for scientific use, yet he still kept drinking throughout the day. Someone asked, “Why don’t you give the drinking a break?” He said, “No, no, I have a sacred duty. I have contributed all my organs to science, so I am keeping them well-preserved, soaked in alcohol!”

The instinct of self-preservation is constantly seeing how to save oneself. You cannot save this. The only thing is to go gloriously, like a real flare, not like a wimp. Those who try to preserve will become dead when they are alive, and of course, when death comes close they aspire to live. So, kaivalya pada means you had worked at sadhana for six months, and now sadhana is about flaring up. The next two weeks are left for you to consolidate, to set a bar below which you will not go. Not by resolution, but again by sadhana. Saying, “I will not go down!” is not going to help, but if you put enough hydrogen in the balloon, it will not come down. You don’t have to take a resolution, there is no such thing. If you put enough gas in it, it will float. The same thing is true with oneself. If you pump up enough energy into this (referring to oneself), this will not come down. Do what you want, it will not come down.

Dear Sadhguru, the death of anyone or anything makes me so upset, even a pigeon on my balcony or a dog on the highway. Why do I feel this way? Can you make me realize what death is?

Mortality, the mortal nature of who you are, is the basis of all fear. If you were not mortal, there would be no fear in you because even if you were cut into pieces, you would still not die. But what is there to be afraid of? Death is a wonderful thing; it puts many things to an end. Right now, because of the way you are, you may think it is a terrible thing, but if you were to live for a thousand years, you would see death as a relief. If you are here for too long, people will wonder when you are going! So, death is a tremendous relief; it is just that it should not happen untimely. We do not want to fall dead when we are still able to create, contribute and make things happen.

If you want to fall dead at an appropriate time, you need to do sadhana so that you can determine when you will fall dead. Otherwise, even when you see a dead pigeon, it will remind you of your own mortality. What was flying yesterday is dead and dry today. Imagining that you could become like that one day could be scary for you because your identification with what you have gathered has become so compulsive. When I say your identification with what you have gathered – the very body that you carry is just a piece of earth. The soil that you have gathered and made into this body, as well as your identities, have become so strong that losing it looks like a terrible thing.

Suppose you are overweight and we helped you drop ten kilograms, would you feel terrible and cry about it? Definitely not, most people are ecstatic when they drop ten kilograms. Now suppose you dropped your whole fifty or sixty kilograms, what is the big deal? If you know life the way it is, and you are not lost in the heaps that you have gathered, shedding the body is not such a big thing.

The dead bodies of birds, insects, dogs and human beings is just soil being put back to soil. It is not some great drama; it is a natural process. What you picked up you have to return and recycle. You may attach much significance to your birth, life and death, but as far as Mother Earth is concerned, it is just recycling. It pops you out and pulls you back in. You may assume too many things about yourself, but what you have gathered you must return, it is a good habit. Whatever you take from anybody must be returned at some point. Death is a good habit; believe me.

'Having seeking as your First Instinct Response all I need to do. Giving you the eternal seeking is the job of Mahadeva. With seeking naturally comes the Solution. Where ever you stopped seeking you lost the art of reinventing yourself.
Whenever you lost the art of reinventing yourself, not only you are stinking, you are rotting to destruction.'

Sometimes when I see people who are too serious about some foolish thing I think of something the Maharshi used to say:
When you are traveling on the train
will you keep the baggage on your head or under your feet?
This is the difference between the Wise
and the rest of the universe.
The Wise do not carry their baggage,
but almost everyone does.
Thinking of friends and finances and things not even come or already gone is carrying your baggage. This is the difference between living in peace or suffering. It depends on where your baggage is.
If you feel that the baggage you are carrying is of no use, drop it down. Then walk away Enlightened into the realms where very few have gone. Don't carrying anything.

How can I describe a program like Inner Awakening? All I can say is that Inner Awakening is not a program – it is a tremendous possibility! However else we may choose to describe it, Inner Awakening is ultimately your experience of your own transformation – your intimate contact with your own highest possibilities.
Each moment of Inner Awakening is a fresh introduction – because Life is introducing Itself to you every moment ! No one can predict what your unique experience of this program will be like.
But there is one thing I can tell you, for I have seen it happen: no one, no one, ever returns from Inner Awakening without experiencing at least one dimension of Jeevan Mukti, Living Enlightenment

Sadhguru: There is a very beautiful story in the yogic lore of Karnataka. This was a great yogi named Siddhalinga who lived in the region of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh in the Deccan Plateau of South India. He walked this region with such great authority, going everywhere and proving to everyone that he was the greatest yogi. He was on the path of Kayakalpa. Kaya means “the body,” and kalpa means to get your body into a different dimension altogether. These were the kind of yogis with mastery over the fundamental elements. With this kind of sadhana, they made their body so hard and stable. These are the kind of people who live for 300-400 years because they have stabilized their body with their mastery over the five elements in such a way that they continue to live beyond the normal span of human life. At the time of this story, they say Siddhalinga was already over 280 years old and he had made his body as hard as a diamond. In those days, all the weapons were made from either steel, brass, copper, or similar metals. So, no one could cut through his body with any weapon that was available. That was his pride. Wherever he went, he was always challenging people to prove that he was the greatest yogi.

Siddhalinga heard about Allama, another great yogi, who did not live like a yogi. Allama, who was generally known Allama Mahaprabhu, was a very beautiful sage and a devotee of Shiva. He was one yogi who was greatly respected in South India and still is. Many devotees such as Akka Mahadevi were in touch with Allama. Allama’s message of unconditional devotion and various other types of sadhana that he was giving to people were spreading in a big way during that time.

Allama was actually a king. He had his temporal duties so he dressed like a king and lived like one but he was a yogi. Siddhalinga dressed like a yogi and lived like a yogi. He had “yogi” painted all over his face. He did not like this man who dressed well, ate well and lived in a palace, but called himself a yogi. So he went to Allama and challenged him, “You call yourself a yogi? You call yourself a devotee of Shiva? Show me something. What have you got?”

Allama Mahaprabhu said, “You are the great yogi. It is best that you show what you can do.”

Siddhalinga pulled out a diamond-tipped sword, gave it to Allama and said, “Take this sword and hit me on my head with all your strength. Nothing will happen to me.”

Allama was amused. He took the sword, and with both his hands and all his might, smashed it on Siddhalinga’s head. The sword just bounced off because his body was so hard. Siddhalinga just stood there like a rock. He laughed, “See. You cannot do anything to me.” Then Siddhalinga said, “Now that you used the sword against me, I can also use it against you.”

Allama said okay. Siddhalinga took the sword and slashed Allama with it. The sword went right through him like he was thin air. It just passed through him. Siddhalinga swished this way and that way but the sword went through Allama again and again without even touching him. Then Siddhalinga bowed down and said, “I know the yoga of strength but I don’t know the yoga of gentleness,” and he became Allama’s disciple.

Allama inspired and created a whole genre of saints called Veerashaivas. Veerashaivas are warrior devotees. They are Shiva bhaktas but they bear arms. Allama was a very soft and gentle being. He had written thousands of couplets of such enormous depth and dimension. In many ways, I can clearly say he was one of a kind in the whole history of humanity. He was an extraordinary being.

'Past has no power over you. Past has no place in your life. Do not have the desire to learn from the past. Do not think something good can come out of brooding over your past. Don't dream that from your past, the future can grow. No. Completely discarding your past can create a lot more space and possibility in you than to pick up the lessons from the past. Like a chicken playing with the dustbin. The ultimate lesson the past can give is "Leave me and go and live". When you drop the past, life becomes a possibility. Greatest possibility.'

'If you start seeking with the depth, simply the Narayana has to wake up from Yoga Nidra and appear in front of you. I am here to make you Intense, radiating miracle powers. Experience the depths of your being.
Awaken the Shiva in you. Let Shivoham be your reality.'

'Thinking about consciousness can bring so much of peace, bliss and joy in you. Just like how you remember your moments with your GURU, how you are filled with joy and excitement same way meditating on consciousness can bring the same depth, joy and excitement.'

'Blessed are those who are seeking in their life, stupid are those who stop seeking. When you stop seeking you, you start worshipping ignorance. Only pain makes you stagnant not your suffering. Remembrance which puts you in emotional turmoil makes you stagnant.'

I desire you more than food or drink.
My body my senses my mind
hunger for your taste.
I can sense your presence in my heart
although you belong to all the world.
I wait with silent passion for one gesture
one glance from you.

"Since the Unborn Buddha Mind is marvelously illuminating, it hasn't so much as a hairs breadth of any selfish bias, so it adapts itself freely, and, as it encounters different sorts of circumstances, thoughts sporadically pop up. Its all right so long as you simply don't get involved with them; but if you do get involved with thoughts and go on developing them, you won't be able to stop, and then you'll obscure the marvelously illuminating [function] of the Buddha Mind and create delusions.
On the other hand, since from the start the Buddha Mind is marvelously illuminating, readily illumining and distinguishing all things, when you hate and loathe those deluded thoughts that come up and try to stop them, you get caught up in stopping them and create a duality between the one who is
doing the stopping and that which is being stopped. If you
try to stop thought with thought, there will never be an end to it. It’s just like trying to wash away blood with blood.
Even if you succeed in getting out the original blood, you'll be left with the stain of the blood that came after."'

In ‘Day by Day with Bhagavan’ (10.5.46) Sri Devaraja Mudaliar writes about an incident that happened in Bhagavan’s hall :
One afternoon Krishna Jivrajani asked Bhagavan, “Suppose there is some disturbance during meditation like mosquito bites, should one persist in meditation and try to bear the bites and ignore the interruption or drive the mosquitoes away and continue meditation?”
Bhagavan answered, “You must do as you find most convenient. You will not attain mukti simply because you refrain from driving the mosquitoes away. The thing is to attain one pointedness and then to attain Manonasa. Whether you do this by putting up with the mosquito bites or driving the mosquitoes away is left to you. If you are completely absorbed in your meditation you will not know that the mosquitoes are biting you. Till you attain the stage why should you not drive mosquitoes away?”

Bhakti is nothing but knowledge with limitations. The Self is an undivided whole without a second. The all-pervading Self exists everywhere. Those only who have a sense of separateness manage to see IT as limited. Beyond the sphere of the mind Self is one whole. …
Desires and cravings come into existence simultaneously with the feeling of ‘I’-ness. Desires hold the mind in a state of unsteadiness, then man forgets the true nature of his own Self, and oblivious of his own blissful nature seeks pleasure outside.
The ‘my’ and ‘mine’ – feeling binds the ‘I’ to the body, mind and ego. The conception that ‘I am the body’ is formed in oblivion of the fact that ‘I’ is not the body. As a step further arises the idea ‘I have got a mind and an intellect.’ By degrees the illusory imaginations grow. First ‘my mind and intellect’, next ‘my father, mother, brother, sister’, next ‘my hearth and home, my country’, and so on. At this stage instead of seeking happiness within oneself one expects it from the mind, intellect and ego. Disappointed one seeks it from others. Gradually the sense of ‘my’ and ‘mine’ deepens.
From Unity diversity is brought into being. Then, oblivious of the true nature of his own Being, man begins to experience this world of diversity.

When you rest in quietness and your image of yourself fades, and your image of the world fades, and your ideas of others fade, what's left? A brightness, a radiant emptiness that is simply what you are.

Mahamudra cannot be taught.
But most intelligent Naropa,
Since you have undergone rigorous austerity,
With forbearance in suffering and with devotion to your Guru,
Blessed One, take this secret instruction to heart.
Is space anywhere supported?
Upon what does it rest?
Like space, Mahamudra is dependant upon nothing;
Relax and settle in the continuum of unalloyed purity,
And, your bonds loosening, release is certain.

In the winter of the third year of Genroku, the Master
held a training period at the Ryomonji. Over ten thousand
people attended! Everyone said: "At this meeting they'll surely have to set up rules and regulations, exhort people
in a booming voice and make the whole assembly quake with fear!"
But everyone was calm and quiet, and no rules or regulations were imposed.
Periodically, the Master would ascend the lecture seat and address the assembly, saying:
'The originally existing Unborn—all of you, be sure you don't conceal it from yourselves! This Unborn is like a great ball of fire: touch it and you're be burned. I can speak about it for you now, but my words can't exhaust it; I can use it, but I'll never use it up.
For me to exhort People, berating them harshly to frighten them into activity, is just a useless deception. It should never be done!"
When the monks of the assembly heard this, all their doubts melted instantly away.
(Zeigo, zenshu, p; 296.)

Devotion is the essence of the path, and if we have in mind nothing but the guru and feel nothing but fervent devotion, whatever occurs is perceived as his blessing. If we simply practice with this constantly present devotion, this is prayer itself.
When all thoughts are imbued with devotion to the guru, there is a natural confidence that this will take care of whatever may happen. All forms are the guru, all sounds are prayer, and all gross and subtle thoughts arise as devotion. Everything is spontaneously liberated in the absolute nature, like knots untied in the sky.

Q: When I keep the mind on this feeling of ‘I am', must I be relaxed and quiet? Should I see what is happening, without interfering, or should I be observing, scrutinizing, comparing, etc.?
AS: It is enough if you can simply relax in this 'I am’. Whatever happens in this 'I am’, this consciousness, just be indifferent to it.
You are the consciousness itself, not the thoughts and ideas that appear in it. Many things both good and bad are going on in this world. We don't bother about most of them because we think, ‘These things are happening to somebody else and not to me.’
In the same way, be the consciousness 'I am' and be indifferent to the various things that come and go in your mind. If you identify with thoughts judge them, compare them, worry about them, try to suppress them, or get involved with them in any way, they will cause you trouble. Instead, be utterly indifferent to them.
If you don't pay them any attention, they can never adversely affect you.
The personal 'I' makes judgments about good and bad, right and wrong. It is perpetually enmeshed in dualities. The jivanmukta, who is only ever aware of himself as ‘l am’ has transcended all duality. He sees no right and wrong. He remains as the witness of all happenings without judging them and without -identifying with them in any way.